Telephony and PSTN Architecture

Tomassi Ch-16,17,18
Telecommunication Essentials

Plus Class Material

Week - 14
1
 2
Ref: Telecom essentials: Handouts
PSTN Architecture

3
Ref: Telecom essentials: Handouts
Old US PSTN (AT&T before 1984)
Class 1 Regional centers

Class 2 Class 2 Sectional centers

Class 3 Class 3 Class 3 Primary centers

Class 4 Class 4 Class 4 Class 4 Toll (tandem) offices

circuits,trunks

Class 5 Class 5 Class 5 Class 5 Class 5 Central (end) offices

local loop subscriber lines last mile

Class 5 switch is the sole interface to the subscriber lines

Ref: Tomassi Ch-18 4

 There are basically four types of nodes:
 CPE nodes,
 switching nodes,
 transmission nodes,
 service nodes.

5
The switching nodes include
 the local exchanges,

 tandem exchanges
 for routing calls between local exchanges
within a city
 toll offices
 for routing calls to or from other cities
 international gateways
 for routing calls to or from other countries
6
Telephone

 A Telephone circuit is comprised of two or

more facilities, interconnected in tendem,
to provide a transmission path between
source and destination.
 Interconnection path
 Private
 Public

Ref: Tomassi Ch-17

7
Local Loop

 Is the facility required by all voice-band

circuits.
 It is the mean by which subscriber
locations are connected to the local
telephone company.
 Metallic transmission wire, twisted pair
insulated copper wire.
 Primary cause of attenuation and phase
distortion.
Ref: Tomassi Ch-17 8
 Local loop transmission characteristics
depends on;
 Wire diameter
 Conductor spacing
 Insulator between pair of wires
 Conductivity of wires
 Concept of equivalent inductance,
capacitance, and resistance. (Distributed
Parameters)

9
Components of LL
 Feeder Cable
 Serving Area Interface (SAI)  Feeder cable to
distribution cable
 Distribution Cable (F2)
 Subscriber or standard network interface (SNI)
 demarcation point
 Drop Wire
 Aerial
 Distribution Cable & Drop wire cross connect
point
Ref: Tomassi Ch-17 10
 Customer Premises

Network Interface Device (NID): (SNI)

Demarcation point between inside wiring and
TELCO facilities. Serves as testing point to
isolate problems in the circuit.

App Servers

Inside Wiring:
•Belongs to the house
•Distributes telephony and DSL service throughout
the structure
•Uses unshielded twisted copper pairs

Telephone Wiring Jack:

•Belongs to the house
•Connected to the inside wiring
•RJ11 connector is standard
11
 Customer Premises

RJ11 Wall Jack

Network Interface Device

RJ11 Connector

12
 Direct Feeder Architecture
Central Office (CO):
A building that houses electronic equipment such as
switches and routers. The CO is at the center of the
local network and it provides connections to the rest of
the networks in the world.
App Servers
NID

Service Wire: (drop wire)

Connects the subscriber’s NID to a distribution
terminal. Can be aerial or buried. Come in 1, 2,
or 5-pair capacity.

Distribution Terminal: Feeder Cable:

Used to access individual pairs in the
cable and connect them to the
subscriber’s service wire. Can be
pole mounted for aerial cable, or
pedestal mounted for buried cable.
Provides connectivity between the central office and the
outside facilities. Referred to as Facilities 1 (F1).
Depending on the type used, they may contain 25 -
2000 copper pairs, & may have plastic or pulp insulated
conductors, and gel or air fill.
13
 Direct Feeder Architecture

Service Wire

Aerial Service Wire connected

To a NID

14
 Direct Feeder Architecture

Pedestal Terminal

Aerial Terminal
15
Direct Feeder Architecture

Twisted Pair Cable 16

Feeder-Distribution Interface (FDI)
Or
Serving Area Interface (SAI)
FDIs provide an important function in the local loop.
They serve as the interface between cables coming
from the central office and cables distributed to
customers.

They also provide a useful location from which to test

circuits and isolate problems in the line.

Other names for FDI include: cross-connect box,

cross-box, serving area interface (SAI).
17
Feeder-Distribution Interface (FDI) (continued)

When an FDI is installed, the cable plant is segmented

into two major components known as:

•Feeder facilities (F1)

•Distribution facilities (F2)

18
 Distributed Feeder Architecture: Copper-Fed FDI

Feeder-Distribution Interface (FDI):

Used to administer distribution cable pairs and connect
them to feeder cable. Serves as testing point to isolate
App Servers
problems in the circuit. Also known as a cross-connect
NID box, cross-box, serving area interface (SAI), or interface.

Central Office (CO)

Service
Wire

Distribution
Terminal
Feeder
cable/F1

Distribution Cable:
Used to administer distribution cable pairs and
connect them to feeder cable. Separating feeder from
distribution allows greater flexibility and reduced costs
in equipping a central office. Also known as Facilities
2 (F2).
19
 Distributed Feeder Architecture: Copper-Fed FDI

Open View

Feeder-Distribution Interface (FDI)

Closed View
20
Distributed Feeder Architecture: Copper-Fed FDI

Feeder-Distribution Interface (FDI)

Close-up View of Binding Posts 21
Local Telephone call Procedure
(POTS) Plain Old Telephone Service
1. Calling station goes off-hook
2. DC current flow detected on the loop 
audible tone  caller is granted network
access
3. Caller dials the number to call
1. Mechanical dial
2. Electronic dialer (DTMF)
4. Switching machine detects the 1st dialed digit
 tone removed
5. Switch interprets the dialed number and route
the call to the particular local loop.

Ref: Tomassi Ch-16 22

1. Test of DC current at the destination loop to know
whether idle or busy, at the same time best path to the
destination is decided
2. Telephone
1. Off hook station busy signal back to the caller
2. On-hook  switching machine sends ring tone to destination &
ring back signal at the caller,
3. Destination Answered  Loop completed and dc
current flow.
4. Switch recognizes the answer and rings removed,
connection made, Conversation begin.
5. Either machine goes on-hook  loop becomes open
circuit, connection dropped through switch.

Ref: Tomassi Ch-16

23
Instruments, Local Loops, Trunk
Circuits and Exchanges
 Instruments (Station)
 Any device to originate and terminate the call, to
transmit and receive signals into and out the
telephone network.
 Telephone set, cordless, modem etc
 LL
 Trunk Circuit
 To interconnect two telephone offices.
 Difference in trunk and line
 Line is permanently associated with a station
 Trunk is temporary associated to a particular station, works
on the basis of sharing.
 Can be fiber or copper, wired or wireless 24
Ref: Tomassi Ch-18
 Exchanges
 Central location where subscribers are
interconnected, either temporary or
permanent.
 Switching machine are placed in exchanges
 Programmable matrices
 The purpose of exchange is to provide a path
for a call to be completed between two
parties.

25
Functions of a switch

 Identify the subscriber

 Setup or establish a communication path
 Supervise the calling procedure

26
Ref: Tomassi Ch-18
Operator Assisted Local Exchanges

 Switchboards (Patch Panels, Patch boards)

 Patch cords and jacks to be manually
connected.

27
Ref: Tomassi Ch-18
28
The PSTN circa 1900

pair of copper wires

“local loop”

manual routing at local exchange office (CO)

• Analog voltage travels over copper wire end-to-end
• Voice signal arrives at destination severely attenuated and distorted

• Routing performed manually at exchanges office(s)

• Routing is expensive and lengthy operation
• Route is maintained for duration of call
29
30
 Automated Routing: Cross-connect switch
Analog Crossbar switch Digital Cross-connect (DXC)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
1
1 2 3 4 5
2 t
3
4 processor
5
6 2 1 5 4 3
7 t

Complexity increases
rapidly with size

31